Source: Gulf News
Date: June 16, 2006
At the outset when I meet him for this informal chat in his posh suite at the Hotel Sun-N-Sand, Hrithik Roshan, attired in white, asserts that Krrish is an endeavour on his and his dad's part to take Bollywood cinema to the next level.
"Koi Mil Gaya opened the doors to a genre, which was at that point of time non-existent. Krrish is the next step. I remember when we broached the idea of an alien in a spaceship when we launched Koi Mil Gaya, people laughed at our decision. However the success of the film proved us right. Similarly, when dad decided to launch a film about a superman, people instilled a sense of fear in him but dad took it up as a big challenge. Dad's conviction about the subject will make the audience accept Krrish."
Taking risks
Hrithik confesses that people did warn them not to take a big risk since Krrish entailed a big budget. "You see every one can climb but if you choose a small mountain, it means you are playing safe. However, dad and I feel that risk stimulates you and activates your cells and pushes you and drives you, especially because you know that if you fall, it will hurt you badly.
"You have to keep on crossing the barriers and realise your ultimate potential. There was enough passion when I was acting in Krrish that I could turn huge mountains into small pebbles. The vision of seeing Krrish alive on the screen made me take the risks involved as an actor. If Krrish works, the boundaries will dissipate."
Distorted
The perception that Krrish is a superhero project is wrong and even distorted, says Hrithik. "Krrish is a personal story. Krrish does not set out to save the world. Krrish deals with a journey, which ends with the birth of the super hero. It is a personal battle and an emotional journey. The era of the super hero will begin with Krrish, when his past comes to haunt him. Krrish is as close to Superman or for that matter Spiderman, as it is to V.Shantaram's Janak Janak Paayal Baaje."
The ego
Hrithik feels that it is the job of the actor and the director to make that extra effort to go all the way. "The secret of success of any film is nothing but ego less communication. If you communicate with faith and without any ego, you can be assured of success in any relationship. Dad does not push his ideas on me. In fact when I came in front of the camera on the first day of the shoot of Koi Mil Gaya, dad didn't know what I was doing.
"He let me interpret my character the way I felt it was good without imposing his views on me.
"Every time there is a different perception, I tell him why I want to do it my way and he in turn tells me why he wants me to perform in his way.
"It is always the better thought that wins ultimately. I have always been the bouncing board for dad. Difference of opinion leads to animosity between an actor and a director aksar jab soch mein kam dhyan aur maine mein zyada hota hain. I make it a point to check my ego at every single step."
Trying to fit in
Hrithik confesses that when he was acting in Koi Mil Gaya, he realised that he did not have a good perspective of how the coin would flip.
"Initially I was taking on films because I wanted to take up various kind of roles. At that point of time I was working in a reference because I feel every actor has his own reference point in one actor or the other. I was not at all acting in my first three or four films but trying to fit into the image of an actor that I had dreamed of. It was only when I started acting in Koi Mil Gaya that I learnt the right approach to acting. It was while acting in Koi Mil Gaya that I realised that I didn't need to concentrate on films that didn't run whereas Koi Mil Gaya was special."
Hrithik does not agree that Koi Mil Gaya was a film for children.
"Kids today do not like it if you make a kiddish film because they prefer to watch mature films, like Mission: Impossible," he says.
Future projects
Besides Krrish, Hrithik is eagerly looking forward to the release of Yash Chopra's Sanjay Ghadvi-directed Dhoom 2 in which he confesses that he is playing what he calls a mysterious, sinister, suave thief who is a disarming man of few words with a style of his own.
He is also all set to act in Ashutosh Gowarrikar's Akbar Jodha as Akbar and Zoya Akhtar's as yet untitled love story opposite Kareena Kapoor.
"The script makes me believe that I should take up a new director's project. Zoya has a fabulous script." Hrithik is also hopeful that Krrish will click at the box office in a big way and propel him to make a sequel.
Hits not about father's love
Hrithik's logic is that good films work and bad films do not. "All films which dad directed were good films and hence they worked at the box office. I do not like it when people try to discount dad's talent or mine by attributing the success of my films to dad's love for me. When you are in front of the camera, love does not make you act. The film industry is one place where only the fittest can survive. If it were dad's love that makes our films click, then I'd say that other directors too should learn to love their actors to make their films big hits, because eventually the actor is a part of your film since the audience wants to love him."